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While he was born at Newark, New Jersey in 10 November 1895, John (Jack)Knudsen Northrop’s family moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1914. It was there where he finished High School and where his interest in aviation started.  After graduation, he visited a relative’s ranch in Hawaii and upon returning to California, he got his first job in aviation working for Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company in 1916. He was tasked as an engineering draftsman and he had a hand in the company’s aircraft under development at the time, The F-1 flying boat. The company didn’t last for long due to bad sales and closed in 1920. The Douglas Aircraft Company was piled with projects in 1923 owing to the development of the Douglas World Cruiser (DWC) and Jack joined just in time to be designated as chief engineer to meet the deadline for the aircrafts to be utilized on the first around the world flight attempt.

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The Lockheed Vega  was a result of Northrop’s return to Lockheed in 1927 after Allan Loughead renamed the company (from Loughead) and transfered the location at Hollywood, Califonia. The Vega popularized pilots Wiley Post in his quest for the flight around the world and Amelia Earhart in her solo crossing of the Atlantic.

The Lockheed Sirius resulted from Charles Lindbergh’s request for an aircraft to scout prospected airline routes around the world.

The Northrop Alpha  came to being in 1928 when Jack left Lockheed to form his own company called Avion Corporation.

The early Flying Wing design in flight, the first of a series of Flying Wing designs Jack started with his company in 1929. 

The Northrop Delta  was built at the time Jack founded Northrop Corporation in 1932 with back up from Donald Douglas (Avion Corporation was sold in 1930) and with headquarters at El Segundo, California.

The Northrop Gamma followed the Delta and later became the basis for for the US navy’s requirement for a dive bomber which resulted to the Northrop A-17.

The Northrop N1-M  was the first project resulting from the founding of Northrop Aircraft Incorporated in 1939 two years after Jack was forced to close his previous company and become a subsidiary of Douglas Aircraft in 1937. The new company has lasted quite long and has relocated in Hawthorne, California as was decided by co-founder Moye Stephens.

The Northrop XB-35 followed as a Flying Wing bomber developed for the US Air Force in World War II but made flight only in 1946.

The Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet began development in 1940 but was later abandoned due to design flaws in 1945.

The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was developed in 1940 as a requirement for a radar equipped fighter which could operate at night. It took flight in 1942 and served well in bringing the tides of war in favor of the Allied Forces. It was later converted as an unarmed photorecon aircraft during the Korean War.

The MX-334  resulted from Jack’s knowledge of the German built Me-163 Komet rocket powered fighter aircraft and was built in 1944. The aircraft was powered by two rocket engines and the pilot was in prone position between two engines during flight.

The JB-1 was an unmanned rocket powered bomb which was built and tested in 1944 in answer to the German’s V-1 flying bomb. Owing to the problem of the rocket engines, it was never perfected to be used before the war ended. 

The Northrop YB-49 resulted from the replacement of the  XB-35 piston engines with turbojet engines. The program was scrapped in 1953 in favor of the B-52 Stratofortress.

The F-89 Scorpion was developed in 1948 as an interceptor armed with nuclear Genie Air to Air rockets. This aircraft served its purpose at the outbreak of the Cold War.

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Jack retired in 1952 but continued on the consultancy role at Northrop. The photo above was taken in 1980 when the B-2 team acquired clearance for him to see the B-2 design at the company when it was already merged with Grumman and became Northrop Grumman.

The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber took first flight in 17 July 1989 and was introduced in 1997, Jack Northrop died in his sleep in 18 February 1981 just years after seeing the B-2 design when development and production was awarded to Northrop Grumman. Here was one man’s lifework that eventually earned the most ambitious and lucrative US defense funding contract with average worth of US$737 million dollars per aircraft in 1997.